The University of Kansas Health System's video: Wednesday Media Briefing on COVID-19

The number of active COVID-19 patients being treated at The University of Kansas Health System continues to drop today. 60 people with the active virus are hospitalized, down from 64 yesterday. 25 patients are in the ICU, up from 23 yesterday. 11 of those ICU patients are on ventilators today, down from 13 yesterday. 50 other patients are still hospitalized because of COVID-19 but are out of the acute infection phase, down from 51 yesterday. That’s a total of 110 patients, down from 115 yesterday. In addition, HaysMed has a total of 24 COVID-19 inpatients, down from 26 yesterday, with 15 of those active patients and 9 in the recovery phase. Doctors say we’re doing “pretty good,” better than Los Angeles County right now, and think citizens around the Metro area are doing better at observing the pillars of infection prevention, especially after the holidays. On today’s Morning Media Update, Pulmonologist Dr. Leslie Spikes talked more about chronic lung injuries COVID-19 patients are weathering and how the COVID-19 clinic will address, track and study long haul effects of this disease. We also checked in with Anil Gharmalkar to see how his lung issues are progressing since he contracted COVID-19 back in April. Dr. Spikes works with lung patients in the Post-Covid Multidisciplinary Clinic, the formal name for the long-haul clinic. She explained how it’s for patients whose symptoms have persisted for 12 weeks or longer, and once a patient’s primary care doctor gives a referral, nurse navigators will help get the patient to the right specialist. She says the most worrisome long-term complications are from inflammation in the lungs, which causes scarring. She says 30-50 percent of ICU patients show low oxygen levels but are not short of breath and feel OK. She encourages all patients, especially those with pulmonary hypertension, to get the vaccine. Anil Gharmalkar is a truck driver who caught the virus back in April, and barely made it back to his Kansas home from a trip before collapsing with fatigue. He was hospitalized and put on a ventilator. While the virus is gone, the effects of COVID-19 have been profound. He’s had multiple surgeries to help his collapsed windpipe, a side effect from the ventilator, and has to speak and breathe with a trachea tube. He says it doesn’t hurt, but it’s a struggle just to speak and breathe, and it wears him out. He’s had some improvement, but not as much as he’d hoped, and says he and his wife are getting used to the “new normal.” He’s hoping another surgery will help him get off the trach tube but says there are no guarantees. He stressed it’s vital for everyone to get the vaccine. He says there’s a high price a lot of people have paid for himself and others to survive and the greatest respect you can show for those who are sacrificing is to wear a mask and avoid catching the virus in the first place. Dana. Hawkinson, MD, medical director of Infection Prevention and Control at The University of Kansas Health System, says right now, it does not look like the so-called “variant” of the COVID-19 virus is in the area, even though state health officials are actively looking for it. He also says there are no diseases which would disqualify you from getting the vaccine. He does say that someone who is immunocompromised, a chemotherapy patient for example, may not be able to mount an immune response from the vaccine. He updated the progress on monoclonal antibody therapy and says 90 people have received that outpatient treatment so far, with good results. He says right now the only thing keeping more people from getting the vaccine is the supply. Steve Stites, MD, chief medical officer at The University of Kansas Health System, says we can’t ignore the facts about infection prevention and vaccination. They are what will get us through this pandemic. He vows we will always tell the truth to help you make decisions that will take care of your family and those you love. Thursday, January 14 at 8:00 a.m. is the next Morning Media Update. Dr. Allen Greiner, Chief Medical Officer for the Unified Government Public Health Department and Dr. Jason Glenn, a professor in the Department Of History and Philosophy of Medicine at KUMC. Dr. Greiner will update the vaccination roll out going on in Wyandotte County. Dr. Glenn is an expert in "how and why" we think what we do about science and medicine. Together, they are working to bring the melting pot of cultures in the Dotte together to get vaccinated.